Fall Update

It's been almost three months since my last entry in this Jaguar Restoration blog.  Progress on the Jag has been slow as I have finished up the Model T motor and put it back in the car and put the car in the storage trailer.  I had to take a few weeks and do a mild restoration of my 1964 Honda Super Hawk which had been sitting with no attention for 5 years and was in pretty sad shape.  The fuel had partially congealed in the tank and the carburetors were totally stuck shut and a number of other problems needed to be dealt with.  I have not yet got it running again but that moment is not far away.  For the last three weeks I have been working on my 1998 Ford Ranger pickup which needed a complete engine rebuild.  That should be finished up in another week or two and should provide me with reliable transportation for the winter months. 

The Jag work fills in the odd moments between these other projects.  Mostly I am disassembling things, trying to salvage what components can be saved.  I was able to clean out the fuel tank using the improvised tumbler shown below.  Unfortunately when I had removed most of the ancient varnish and tar from the inside by tumbling nuts and bolts around inside the tank filled with hot lye solution, tiny pin hole leaks began to appear where the tank was most corroded.  I decided easily that a new tank would be needed as no matter how many holes I might braze up, more would surely appear as soon as I installed the tank back in the car.  I didn't want to deal with that so the Jag will get a new tank.

My home Zinc plating system is working well enough to start plating small parts.  All of the fasteners that are showing corrosion will get re-plated in my garage.  The larger, or more visible, parts are being done at a shop in Springville; Duris Plating.  The chrome work is being done at Crown Plating in Salt Lake City.  They have finished one batch of parts for me and are working on a second. 

I was pleased to discover that much of the original zinc plating, although dark and tarnished after decades of sitting idle, will polish up better than new with a little effort.  Below is a photo of the throttle linkage, mostly all in original zinc, just polished.  The larger flat parts were too corroded to polish and needed re-plating.

The interior is slowly coming out.  I am currently shopping for a complete interior kit.  There are many providers and they all claim to be the best quality available anywhere in the world.  I will eventually have to choose one and order.  I will retain the original Suede Green color.  What's left of the upholstery in this car is faded and has lost its original rich appearance, but a new acquaintance in SLC has shown me a photo of a convertible with new Suede Green interior and it is the most luxurious and rich-looking of all the colors I have seen. 

The paint debate has now been reopened.  New upholstery wants to be installed after new paint.  To repair the worst body damage I would have to repaint about half the car.  I received an estimate for paintless repair of just one area of the hood and it was over $1000 which would almost buy enough material to repaint the entire car.  It is becoming clear to me that I need to repaint the whole car in order to coordinate with the new interior and all the rubber seals which absolutely must be replaced.

Following are some photos of the work to date.

Fuel tank tumbler made on an old engine stand.  This worked pretty well to clean the inside of the tank.  Pinholes made the purchase of a new tank a better option than attempting to repair this one.

All the gauges and switches have been removed and the three sections of dashboard have been replated in Copper (center section) and Nickel (left and right sections).  The gauges appear to all be usable with a little cleaning up.

The complete throttle linkage has been repolished.  All the plating is original except the plate on the left that fastens to the firewall and the arm on the right that comes off the pedal box.  These were too corroded to polish.   But the original plating on all the rods and links must have been well done 55 years ago to still clean up this nicely.

The carbs and intake manifolds have been removed.  The engine will have to come out and be rebuilt.  The cooling system is full of crud and the engine will not turn.  Pistons must be frozen.  The carbs are corroded shut but may be restorable with care.  This will be a project worthy of its own blog!